


The Calculus Problem

by firebird_and_pegasus



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Dorms, Fluff, Friendship, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:20:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26203333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firebird_and_pegasus/pseuds/firebird_and_pegasus
Summary: Newsies College/superpowers AU one shot that was supposed to be a part of a larger series that never actually got written. Features telepathic Crutchie, Davey with wings, extremely hard calculus homework, and ice cream.
Relationships: Crutchie & David Jacobs
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	The Calculus Problem

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! About 2 years ago, I had an idea for a superpowers AU, but I never actually wrote it. This was supposed to be a test scene to see if/how the concept worked. I still think that it is pretty good, so here it is! Also, the set up for the rooms are two dorms, Jack and Davey in one and Crutchie and someone else who I have not decided on yet in the other. The two rooms share a bathroom, which (from personal experience since this is based on my freshman dorm) you can hear conversations from the other room through. I will probably never write the whole series because I have forgotten all of it over the 2 years since I wrote this (and I have gotten so out of touch with the Newsies fandom), but I may write some more one shots if you all like it!

Crutchie sighed cradling his head in his hands for a moment. Telepathy is not nearly as clear or purposeful as the movies made it out to be. Normally, he can only sense people’s emotions unless a thought is so loud and clear that he can ‘hear’ it. However, the majority of the time that is not what happens because people’s minds are far too chaotic for any one clear thought dominate. This is a very good thing because he cannot filter what thoughts or feelings he receives, at all. Living in a door building meant that he had a constant hum of noise floating around his head. All the emotions and thoughts pooled together to form a constant ‘static’ that never truly went away. Finals week was horrible because it became constant stress from all sides.

This story starts, surprisingly not during finals or midterms, oddly enough, but after Crutchie had come back to the room after one of his classes to feel waves of annoyance and anger coming from the room next door. It didn’t feel like a panic attack or a fight, so he ignored it for the time being. He had a three page essay due that night and he had yet to start it, so that took priority. He had gotten a good outline and the first few paragraphs down when the internalized screaming started. It was still very muffled under the mental white noise that all of the other thoughts swirling around the building was creating, so he continued to ignore it through the first half of the second page.

“I am heading out to my painting class. See you later.” Crutchie heard Jack tell his roommate, Davey.

“Later Jack.” Came the surprisingly calm response from the person who was still screaming internally, now loud enough for him to hear the exact words that were being thought. 

As soon as the other door shut with a dull thud, the frustrated internal ranting tripled in strength. Davey’s thoughts became more and more clear, clouding Crutchie’s own thoughts until he couldn’t focus on the document in front of him. The obnoxious, angry, loud thoughts were all he could hear. He rubbed his temple for a moment, his head starting to throb from the racket. He sighed again, walked over to the shared bathroom, opened the door on his side, and verbally yelled through to the other room, “David Jacobs! Knock it off! You are giving me a migraine. Go to the tutoring center if your calc homework is giving you this much trouble. My goodness.”

The other door opened as a huge wave of embarrassment rolled across along with a few feathers. Crutchie was sure that the fact that Davey’s wings were molting, which is apparently a very itchy process, was not helping matters at all.

“You could hear all of that?” Davey asked, blushing furiously.

“Yes.” Crutchie deadpanned.

“All of it, all of it?”

“If you mean the Yiddish cuss words than yes.”

“I am so sorry…” His face was solid red at this point, and his wings were tucked as close to him as possible.

“It’s okay, most people don’t think about other people hearing what happens in their head.” Crutchie said kindly, it really wasn’t his friend’s fault, “Just please go scream somewhere else.”

“I am so sorry.” He repeated.

“You said that already.”

“Would ice cream make it up to you?”

A bright smile answered his question, “Do you really need to ask?”

A few minutes later, they were eating ice cream at their favorite shop a few blocks away from campus. They were talking and having a grand time and eventually slipped into a comfortable silence. That was one thing that Crutchie had always liked about Davey, sitting in silence with him was never awkward. Crutchie, having constant noise in his head, valued silence more than most of his friends, so having someone to be silent with was very nice. Suddenly a thought that was not from his own head came through crystal clear over the noise of the shop. 

"Can you hear this?"

Crutchie choked slightly on his ice cream. “Davey? What?”

“It worked!” He squealed, pumping his fists and losing a few more feathers. Anyone who wasn’t giving him strange looks before hand because of his half feathered wings certainly were now. Luckily he didn’t notice.

“I was thinking, if you can hear clear, loud thoughts like my calc meltdown, I could communicate with you without speaking! And it worked!” He sang, clearly happy with his discovery.

Crutchie laughed. He had never thought about that aspect of his own powers before, mostly because it was so hard to get clear enough thoughts for him to hear to begin with. “Try it again! Try it again!” 

By the time they left to get back to their homework, Davey could perfectly communicating with Crutchie via thought. By the end of the semester, he had taught everyone else in the group, making Crutchie’s life far more interesting. Davey had also gotten an A- on that calculus homework, if any of you were wondering.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope that you all liked it! If you want any more, please tell me, cause I would like to expand it a bit but as I said before, I have fallen out of the Newsies fandom and have no clue what I am doing at this point. If you happen to have any ideas/prompts, either comment or come yell at me on tumblr (@firebird-and-pegasus).


End file.
